Timestamp
by Lexi Anima Difensore
Summary: Max wants talk Chloe. wants to tell her the truth, but she can't bring herself to,the more she waits the harder things get. Max's side of the text conversation from Before The Storm.
1. Chapter 1

_**Seattle Washington, Lincoln Middle School October 29**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 2009**_

"Good evening class, now I trust most if not all of you have finished up reading our assigned novel by now?"

 _'Groan... No not even close.'_

The mountain of work I have received since I stared here last week is ridiculous, You'd think they'd cut me a little slack at least. Here for one week and I'm already two weeks behind on homework somehow, quite the overachiever I am.

 _ **-Buzzt Buzzt-**_

 _'Huh? Oh right my phone, still not quite use to having one that isn't attached to the wall.'_

I look up at the front of the class and make sure Ms. Anderson is distracted before I discreetly slip the cellular device out of my pocket to see who on earth is texting me while I'm still in class, not that I'm mad, if anything I'm happy for anything that can distract me from my disastrous school career at the moment.

 **From: Chloe 11/2/2009 2:12 pm**

 **Hey hippie, hows the Seattle commune treating you?  
Must be shitty having no wi-fi or running water. **_****_

Shit! I knew I was forgetting something all week. Between the move, unpacking everything, and the sea of homework... or was it a mountain? Anyway it doesn't matter right now. What dose matter is that I forgot to e-mail Chloe back for over what? A week or more.

 _'and the bestfriend of the year award goes to... literally anyone but me.'_

I look up again to make sure the teacher is still distracted, lucky for me she is still droning on about whatever novel I didn't have time to read... I catch a little of the lecture; something about a pig named George that overthrew his masters farm or something like that. I'll figure it out later when I read the book... if I read it. I type out a quick response to Chloe's message. _ ****_

 **From: Max 11/2/2009 2:14 pm**

 **SO SORRY! I've been bad about  
e-mailing. Texting is better for me  
anyway**

I get a response almost immediately. I look around again and make sure no one is looking before reading her response. Damn texting in class is stressful, I wonder how Chloe dose it so easily.

 **From: Chloe 11/2/2009 2:14 pm**

 **yo it's Max**  
 **From: Chloe 11/2/2009 2:17 pm**

 **how's it going?**

Before I even get a chance to respond I hear my name being called. Ms. Anderson just looks at me and gestures for the phone in my hands... Apparently I hadn't been so stealthy as I thought. I get up from my desk and do the walk of shame up to her desk. I mumble a 'Sorry' and she informs me that I can get this back at the end of the week. I look longingly at the phone for a second before I make my way back to my desk.

 _'Sorry Chloe... guess you'll have to wait a little longer.'_ _ ****_


	2. Chapter 2

****_**Seattle Washington, Caulfield Residence, November 13**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 2009**_ ****

 _'Man I suck...'_

Well as it turns out a week in 'Teacher Time' is closer two weeks. Maybe if I had the nerve to tell my parents I had my phone taken away I would have gotten it back sooner; or maybe they would have just left it in the teachers desks as punishment for not paying attention in class. Yeah it's two weeks later and now my parents are finally getting wind of how bad I'm actually doing in school. They gave me the whole 'You can do better' and 'Are you okay' Speeches. I just sat there and nodded and then promised to do better; they seemed to buy it... well for now at least.

And so after a full day of non-stop homework, I finally get a chance to look at my phone. There is one new message since I last looked. ****

**From: Chloe 11/4/2009 7:35 pm**

 **u there**

Yeah.. I'm here, But what do I was to her? Do I tell her how much I miss her? Or how sorry I am for not keeping my promise to keep in contact with her? Should I lie and say I'm having a great time up here? Or should I tell her the truth about how miserable I've been since I left Arcadia Bay?

 **From: Max 11/13/2009 11:42 pm**

 **Gah! Sorry again. I've been really  
busy.**

 **You'd love Seattle. More in a bit.**

 _'Lies and sub-par apology it is then...'_

There is so much I want to say, but as usual words are failing me right now; no wonder I'm getting a D in English class.

 _'and an F in friendship...'_

The phone buzzes in my hand a few moments later.

 **From: Chloe 11/13/2009 11:42 pm**

 **cool**

 **maybe some hitchhiking in my future**

But once again my oh so amazing 'Irish Luck' kicks in and my mom walks into my room before I can respond. She spots me on my phone before I get the chance to hide it and pretend I'm asleep. She gives me her patented 'you're in trouble' look.

I give her a guilty smile "Hey mom..."

She just holds out her hand and gestures for me to hand over my phone... again. Are you cereal? I just got it back... I really need to work on my secret texting skills

I hand it over wordlessly and she takes it " You can finish your conversation tomorrow sweetheart."

She turns to leave the room "Goodnight"

"Night..." I reply sadly

 _'Guess I have to wait a little longer...'_


	3. Chapter 3

****_**Seattle Washington, Caulfield Residence, November 28**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 2009**_

Another two weeks go by and still nothing has changed, I'm still up to my eyeballs in homework, my parents are still lecturing/counseling me about it. The downside to having one of your parents be a shrink is that their always trying to analyze me, sometimes I feel more like of their patients than their kid. Combine that with the fact that I have now fully settled into my usual roll of a bullies victim once again and this month has just been peachy.

 _'Don't forget about being a shitty friend to Chloe either'_

Oh yeah there's still that too... It's not so much as I haven't had the time to text or talk to her it's just that with the shitty time I've been having this month I didn't want to unload it all onto her. I know she probably wouldn't mind hearing me bitch about them to her; but I don't want to add more problems onto her plate. So I've been trying to stick it out for a little bit until things get better and I could tell her some actual good news for once, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 _'Fuck it... Why can't I get up the nerve to just talk to her and tell her what's wrong? She probably thinks I'm ignoring her or somethings. She doesn't deserve that.'_ ****

I reach over my sea of papers and textbooks on my desk and grab my phone, it's only 7 o'clock in the evening so I shouldn't get in trouble for using it right now... right?

 _ **1 Missed Call 11/27/2009 11:32am  
1 New Message 11/27/2009 12:02 pm**_ ****

 _'Shit... I must have missed that last night, I'm such an ass.'_ ****

 **From: Chloe 11/27/2009 12:02 pm**

 **hey hippie**

I tap out a quick response to the missed message. I pause for a moment and wonder if I should call her back, but chicken out at the last second and hit send on my hastily typed apology.

 **From: Max 11/28/2009 6:53 pm**

 **I'm so sorry. Maybe we should set  
up a time to call.  
**  
Once again the response is almost immediate.

 **From: Chloe 11/28/2009 6:53 pm**

 **no worries**

 **i'll check my dance card**

I smile a little at her joke and place the phone back down on my desk. It buzz;s to life about 15 minutes later.

 **From: Chloe 11/28/2009 7:08 pm**

 **it's 7PM in Arcadia Bay. What is  
it, 2019 in Seattle**?

20:19...? Oh military time, right. I take a moments to google the correct answer on my dinosaur of a computer. She's a few minutes off but otherwise correct.

 **From: Max 11/28/2009 7:08 pm**

 **I know, right? Maybe this weekend.**

I leave out the part about there being less chance about getting caught and having my phone taken away for the third time this month. ****

 **From: Chloe 11/28/2009 7:08 pm**

 **sure, anytime**

 **lemme know**

 _'I will, I promise...'_


	4. Chapter 4

****_**Seattle Washington, Caulfield Residence, January 3**_ _ **rd**_ _ **2010**_

 _'I can't sleep...'_

But honestly this was nothing new to me. I haven't been able to get a good night sleep in month's, how could I? School still sucks, my grades are still shit, my parents are still on my case and all I have to look forward to when I go back to school in a few days is a pile of homework and avoiding bullies. Not to mention watching my friendship with Chloe slowly disappear.

 _'and who's fault is that I wonder?...'_

I've been even worse with keeping in contact with her these past few month's. It's gotten to the point where we haven't spoken in almost 2 months. The longest we'd ever gone without talking to each other before was a record 2 and a half hours. It's just... every time I pull my phone to message her I just go completely blank. I have so much to say and no way to say it. I want to tell her how sorry I am that I had to leave and how shitty this place is without her and how much I miss her... I usually end up curled into a ball on my bed and silently sobbing into the captain those times. _  
_**  
**I roll over in my bed and reach for my phone on the bedside table. I switch the screen back on and check the time; 2:14am. I unlock my phone and open up the messenger app, bringing up Chloe's message thread. I read over the last messages she sent me, it was a little before winter break. ****

 **From: Chloe 12/14/2009 4:29 pm**

 **yo queen of the crickets**

 **From: Chloe 12/14/2009 4:37 pm**

 **what's the latest**

I didn't even have an excuse this time for not texting back... unless depression counts. I wanted to respond, but I just didn't have it in me to lie anymore, I'm such a useless friend, I can't even pretend be there for her anymore... she deserves better than that. My phone buzz's in my hand and startles me slightly.

 _'Who the heck is... Oh...'_

A new message has appeared under Chloe's message thread.

 **From: Chloe 1/3/2010 2:16 am**

 **max**

All she says is my name, three simple letters. And some how it makes me feel a thousand times worse than any other message she's sent me. I go to respond but once again nothing comes out. The screen starts to blur and it takes me a minute to realize I'm crying again. I lock the phone and put it back on the table. I don't even bother to grab the captain this time and just silently sob into my pillow.

 _'I'm so sorry Chloe...'_


End file.
